The latest homeless morbidity and mortality report from the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) shows that persons experiencing homelessness (PEH) face significant health challenges and are much more likely to face emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and premature death than the public at large. The new report examines data from 2017 to 2023, including death certificates, hospital records, and the results of the annual “point-in-time” count of unhoused individuals, conducted each year around the country on a night in January. The study finds that overall, approximately 10,000 people in Illinois during that time frame experienced “literal homelessness,” where they had no sufficient shelter at all, while potentially more than 200,000 people were in unstable housing situations, living temporarily with family and friends. Those numbers are likely undercounted, because of limitations in the data systems that can identify and count unhoused individuals. Among the key findings in the report:

• The average age of death for PEH in the period of time covered in the report was nearly 20 years younger than for the housed population of Illinois in that same period (55.5 years old, compared to 74.2 for all persons).

• More than 75,000 PEH accounted for more than 1,824,000 hospital visits in Illinois during the time frame of the report, with a median of around 14 hospital visits per person over that seven-year span.

• 313 PEH who died over the span covered in the report were classified in their death records as veterans, and 30 had worked in public sector jobs, including police officers, paramedics, and correctional officers.

To read the full report, visit www.dph.illinois.gov